39-State Male Prostitution Ring Is Reported

AP

Published: May 14, 1990

FORT WAYNE, Ind., May 13—
Investigators say they have uncovered a 39-state male prostitution ring run by a Navy computer expert. They say it advertised through an electronic network and in magazines for homosexuals.

The Journal-Gazette of Fort Wayne today quoted Steve Goldsmith, the Marion County Prosecutor, as saying the ring was organized by James William Dayton, a computer scientist at the Naval Avionics Center in Indianapolis, who died of a heart attack on March 16 at the age of 44.

At least 50 prostitutes and 300 patrons are involved, the police estimate. No arrests have been made. The clients and prostitutes included Indianapolis bankers, a Cincinnati priest and a Marion County police officer, the paper said. The investigators said the clients and prostitutes were drawn from 39 states, Canada, South Korea and Guam.

An agent at the Federal Bureau of Investigation's office in Indianapolis said the bureau would not comment.

The police said Mr. Dayton was suspected of being involved in illegal sexual behavior as early as 1981 and added that they began investigating reports of a male prostitution ring in 1985, but without success.